141–150 of 164 posts
Are you a programmer? Yes? You are ready.
Seriously in the current market you don't need to be a very confident programmer to be contractor in the UK. Quit your stressful jobs and get into contracting NOW. Money is 3x better. Hours are better, employers are more flexible with contractors believe it or not. And when shit hits fans, just bail and go find another contract.
Contrary to the advice, you do not need an accountant, especially if you are able to ignore another part of the advice and not register for VAT (if your turnover is below the registration threshold of £82,000) which simplifies the accounting greatly. Your duties are then mainly as follows: Use HMRC PAYE Tools to report each salary payment you make, and pay any National Insurance if applicable (which it won't be if yo…
Even VAT is fairly straightforward if you sign up for the VAT Flat Rate Scheme (assuming you're eligible). You'd probably need to pay for something like FreeAgent to help you with your VAT filings, but amount of money the Flat Rate Scheme would save you would easily pay for the cost of the bookkeeping application.
Apologies for the ignorance.....As a barbaric American, Don't you still have to pay taxes if you are a US citizen unless you renounce it? Or does incorporation create a shelter (much like most US companies are doing)? Some relatives of mine took contracts in Canada and ended up having to pay triple taxes (two in Canada, one in USA)
I'm not an expert on this subject, but I don't think that income earned by an incorporation would be taxed if it's incorporated outside the United States. However, the incorporation would have to pay its employee, and that employee's income would be subject to taxation if the employee is a US citizen.
It's not quite as bad as it sounds though. The first $93000 of income earned abroad is not subject to taxation. Many countries (such as Canada and Germany) have reciprocal income tax treaties with the United States that keep citizens from being double-taxed. A US citizen in Germany, for example, wouldn't have to pay any US income tax on income earned in Germany as long as that income was subjected to German income taxes.
Other income such as stock dividends and capital gains is another matter. I'm not entirely certain if that is double taxed or not.
The IRS has a web page listing income tax treaties with various countries: http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/International-Businesses/Unite...
"Am I ready?" Are you a programmer? Yes? You are ready. Seriously in the current market you don't need to be a very confident programmer to be contractor in the UK. Quit your stressful jobs and get into contracting NOW. Money is 3x better. Hours are better, employers are more flexible with contractors believe it or not. And when shit hits fans, just bail and go find another contract.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ten weeks holiday and still earning over 100k contracting a year at £500 a day. Obviously not everyone has a contract all the time but from my friends that do contract they almost always are working (and they are outside the market hungry center that is London)
Speaking about holidays, what's the employers' attitude towards days off say on a 3 or 6 months contract? Can you take a week or two off during a 3 month contract or you are generally expected to work the full contract time?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's also worth noting that (at least in the UK) such notice periods are not legally binding. You can only be forced to give a notice period up to your payroll pay frequency. So for example, if you get paid monthly then you cannot be sued for failing to give > 1 month's notice! ... But of course, most people will still honour their company's "3 month notice" (or whatever) period out of good faith, as it's generally a…
Are you sure about that? There is a statutory notice period of one or two weeks depending on how long your employment has been, but this appears to be trumped by contractual agreements: https://www.gov.uk/handing-in-your-notice-resigning-leaving-...
IIRC the statutory rules are as follows:
* After one month of employment the minimum period is one week
* After two year's of employment the minimum period becomes two weeks
* Each year after the first two one further week is added, up to a maximum of twelve (so because of how long I've been here the three months dictated by my current contract is pretty much aligned with the statutory minimum notice period).
While there is some room for ignoring a contract with unfair terms, unless the notice requirements set out in what you have signed are rather egregious you will be expected to honour them unless you successfully negotiate otherwise at the time. People can and sometimes do ignore this though because the costs and time involved in taking you to court for breach of contract are high enough that it just isn't worthwhile to most employers, but this is a risky stance to take as you could create a reputation for yourself that travels around your industry fairly quickly and may stick around for some time (and, of course, such action is morally wrong: if you signed a reasonable contract in good faith you should stick to it just as you would expect the other party to). If your contract (that part or all of it) can be declared void because it is not enforceable (you can't sign away the statutory minimum) this becomes moot. It can also become a moot point due to some other significant breach by either party then (well by the letter of the law it doesn't, but "you could take me to court but you don't really want the whole truth being a matter of public record do you?" can be a powerful argument in dissuading the other party from taking action).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I do not know anyone who started as a contractor. Everyone I know (myself included) moved to contracting after maturing for several years in the industry, building up a reputation and a network of contacts.
There are such a thing as junior contractors, they tend not to get amazing rates, but they'll still be doing a lot better than what they would on 13k a year, and they can quickly negotiate better rates. I was perm for like 5-6 years, I think building your skills in perm roles is how it should be, but I'd probably have a lot more money if I'd just became a contractor.
Contrary to the advice, you do not need an accountant, especially if you are able to ignore another part of the advice and not register for VAT (if your turnover is below the registration threshold of £82,000) which simplifies the accounting greatly. Your duties are then mainly as follows: Use HMRC PAYE Tools to report each salary payment you make, and pay any National Insurance if applicable (which it won't be if yo…
Could someone explain what kind of contracting work is talked about here? With examples of products, type of work, technologies, etc?
How much of it applicable to US?